Electrically conductive pigmentary materials have, in general, been known for some time. Such pigmentary materials include both those materials which are inherently electrically conductive, as well as those materials which normally are electrically nonconductive but which have been surface treated in a manner to render them electrically conductive. Examples of the inherently electrically conductive materials include the various pigmentary carbon blacks such as, for example, lamp black, furnace black, channel black, thermal black, acetylene black, graphite, and the like. Examples of the normally electrically nonconductive materials include pigmentary inorganic metal and metalloid oxides such as titanium dioxide, silica, alumina and the like, which have been surface treated with a material such as gold or silver or antimony doped tin oxide to render these materials electrically conductive. Powders of the above pigmentary materials have been employed in the past to produce a variety of electrically conductive fibers and fabrics produced therefrom as is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,096 issued Feb. 7, 1989. However, according to this patent, when employing such powders, the amount of powder required may be relatively high in order to achieve any reasonable conductivity and this high level of filler may adversely affect the properties of the resulting fibers.
In addition to the use of the above described electrically conductive powders, the above referenced patent also discloses the use of certain electrically conductive polymeric materials, namely, poly(pyrrole) and poly(aniline) to impart electrical conductivity to fibers, films and fabrics manufactured from various synthetic polymers which are known insulating materials or, at best, semiconductors. Techniques disclosed by this patent for imparting electrical conductivity to such fibers, films and fabrics include impregnating films and fibers with, for instance, pyrrole and an oxidant and thereafter subjecting the pyrrole to chemical oxidation polymerization conditions or by incorporating an oxidant catalyst into a fiber composite and thereafter exposing the fiber composite to pyrrole in solution or vapor form or by precipitating conductive polypyrrole in the interstitial pores of porous fabrics such as, for example, fiberglass fabric.